Page 83 - RADC 2016

MILITARY MATTERS
World Pace Sticking Championships 2016
By Cpl G Johnson RADC
So what exactly is pace sticking and where did it originate from? A pace stick looks something like a giant compass
and is made out of wood and metal. It
is used to gauge the correct length of a pace and measure the distance between ranks for uniformity and cohesion. It dates back to Roman times and was rst used to mark out the distance of straight roads (500 turns of the pace stick equated to 1 Roman mile). Centuries later it was used by the Royal Artillery to measure the distance between the guns. In 1928 it was brought into use to the drill square.
In March 2016, I volunteered myself
to start training within 108 Squadron, 2 ATR. We would train as a collective once every day on the drill square for about 30 minutes. I had previously never done pace sticking so I was slightly apprehensive
but fully engaged. Intially it took me a few
weeks to be able to pace stick correctly
in both the slow and quick march but with perserverance I continually improved. In competitions a pace sticking team consists of one driver and three pace stickers. The driver gives the words of command in order to control the three pace stickers as they move around the drill square.
A month passed and the ATC(P) pace sticking competition arrived. However
at that point I had not recieved enough training to compete. Shortly before this,
I was spotted training and asked to train for a place on the ATC(P) Centre Pace Sticking team to potentially compete in the World Championships 2016 at the RMAS. Even though I didn’t know much about it, I accepted the challenge and began to train twice every day with the rest of the females who wanted a place on the team.
We were being trained by Maj England, GREN GUARDS who is the 2IC, 1 ATR. He had a vast amount of experience in pace sticking, competing and judging, and was very strict. He picked the team and the two reserves, and somehow I got on the team. In the last two weeks we began to train for about 30-60 minutes three times a day which at times was dif cult to t in and around such a busy job role.
The day of the big competition arrived and on Thursday 16th June 2016 we drove to RMAS. The World Pace Sticking
Championships were being held on the Old College Square and the run was almost the whole length of the square. It was slightly daunting competing on that drill square
as I felt like I was almost back at Phase 1 training. However, we completed our run with very few minor errors and I gained a sense of achievement and a huge amount of pride representing not only ATC(Pirbright) but also the RADC. There were 23 teams that entered and our team came 6th so we were very happy! I think it would be great
if we had a RADC team put forward in the future.
Pride 2016
I was fortunate enough to take part in London Pride this weekend representing the Army Medical Services. It was my second year and was an overwhelmingly amazing experience.
You may have already seen that Old
The AMS contingent
College in Sandhurst was lit in the colours of the rainbow to celebrate the Pride 2016 as thousands of LGBT took to the streets.
The Army’s diversity and inclusivity champion, Lieutenant General Sir James Everard, said: “The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is perhaps our greatest icon of strong leadership. This week we have oodlit Old College in the LGBT rainbow colours to
With the Army SM
show how closely we see the links between the Army, the LGBT community and the Nation we serve.”
I would like to thank Cpl Gillespie who attended to support me on the event. If you require any further information or would
like to support next year (straight allies are greatly appreciated) please contact me.
Cpl (now Sgt) J P Morrison RADC
RADC BULLETIN 2016 81